Monday, August 28, 2006

Launch info before 14th, alleged Reggie speech fake

It´s time to comment on the upcoming NOA event on the 14th. As all of you know, IGN´s Matt Casamassina has published an invitation to this showcase event on his blog, promising ´a celebration of videogames´ and the opportunity to ´experience our upcoming line up with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime´.

This event is to take place on the 14th of September in New York, starting at 8:30am. I will not disclose the location, but it is known to me. I myself will not attend, since this is an event by Nintendo of America. However, I believe we might not even have to wait this long.

At Leipzig, I have been told that the Wii launch announcement will definitely be forthcoming before the Tokyo Game Show. Not only that, I have been told that the announcement will be very soon. Also, common sense dictates that Nintendo of America will not break the long-awaited news on the console. Nintendo Co. Ltd. of Kyoto will.

I expect that NCL is already scheduling a similar event to take place in Kyoto or Tokyo, hosted by Miyamoto and Iwata. This will either take place just before the NY event or well in advance. It cannot take place at the same time, because when the NY event starts, it will already be 10:30pm in Tokyo. NCL may also want the original launch announcement to take a different form entirely. But my guess is, again, that it could be a cooperation with a television station, perhaps similar to the Xbox360's unveiling on MTV.

Now, the second (and most amusing) point of business is this one: a number of pages have surfaced via GoNintendo, allegedly a draft version of Reggie´s speech to be held at the event described above. Here are the scans:

Don´t bother to read them, though. Because this is the worst attempt at faking a speech I have ever seen in my life. While people have pointed out that the creases are exactly the same for every page and the letters appear unaffected by them, there is a much more obvious way of telling this is hopelessly fake. Whoever wrote this has sub-zero English writing skills. Allow me to pick out a few quotes:

"What I hope to do today is to give you a very different type of presentation than what you´re used to."

Ouch.

"One through the perspective of both the consumer and the developer."

Double ouch. It´s ´from the perspective´, mate.

"For many years our industry has been going down."

Down what? The stairs? A proper speaker would use words like ´deteriorate´.

"Just look at the picture behind me."

A pretty picture? Or a chart?

"DS is outselling PSP with big numbers."

Me Tarzan, you Jane.

"DS hardware sells every week more than all the other game consoles combined."

This should read: ´sells more every week´.

"... which is in development for more then two years now."

Now, this takes the biscuit. Only children cannot differentiate between the comparative ´than´ and the temporal ´then´. No marketing person in the world would make this mistake.

This is the worst fake I have ever, ever come across. If the faker reads this: please go back to school. Still, very entertaining.Sources: IGN blogs, GoNintendoThanks to: .Shy

hi, excuse my english, it suck´s, well, the kind of mistakes in that "draft" are just like the spanish native speakers mistakes we commit usually writing english, ???¿¿¿¿because the spanish grammar is different and we always are trying to write everything in the sameway,it's an habit:

"DS hardware sells every week more than all the other game consoles combined."

"Also, common sense dictates that Nintendo of America will not break the long-awaited news on the console. Nintendo Co. Ltd. of Kyoto will."

Or it could simply be that NCL release Japanese release information and NOA release American release information. If so, NOE will probably resort to making their announcements via semaphore and telegrams.

god, thank you for pointing out those errors, falafelkid. that whole "document" is absolutely ridiculous. how about the "story's" one... jesus. whoever wrote it was most definately a child.

on a side note, i'm thinking that nintendo won't announce the HMD until well after the system launches. it seems, even as rumors, that people cannot seem to understand that something like an HMD is *OPTIONAL*, and i think nintendo knows this. announcing it before launch would be disastrous, i think, because stupid-ass people take everything at immediate face value, and don't understand what an "option" is. wii would instantly become "that silly console which uses a helmet" or some other such nonsense.

i suppose there may not be a gyroscopic stereo3d HMD at all, but it sure would be an awesome way for us hardcore gamers to play.

While the speech is almost certainly fake, a few grammatical errors really aren't enough to judge. Solely for argument's sake, let's assume the letter was actually written by Reggie. If the event this speech is to be given at isn't till 9/14, this would likely be a first draft, or even a discarded draft (wasn't it 'found' in a trash can). The assumption that a first draft must be grammatically flawless is pretty implausible, no matter the writer's background. Besides, many of the examples you cited aren't so much flat-out mistakes as they are slightly awkward phrasings.

Please understand, I'm not arguing your thesis, merely your justification. The content of the 'speech' is a bigger clue to the document's inauthenticity than a few flubs in diction.

The assumption that a first draft must be grammatically flawless is pretty implausible.

I never said that it would have to be flawless. But there are certain mistakes someone with the education and professional experience of Mr. Fils-Aime can make and some that are just plain impossible, see below.

The content of the 'speech' is a bigger clue to the document's inauthenticity than a few flubs in diction.

Now, this is an understatement if ever there was one. Seriously, look at those errors. Do you honestly believe that a marketing professional would make mistakes like confusing ´then´ and ´than´? Do you think that he really could write sentences like ´DS is outselling PSP with big numbers.´?

I do appreciate your comments and I see where you are coming from. But, honestly, this text was written by someone who can hardly be considered fully literate.

Why would the faker put this speech up and not leave his name if he is just doing it for attention?

Even with the spelling and grammer errors I think this is a very impressive attempt at a speech by Reggie.

I posted this because it was a shocking story and sounded too good to be true, I made sure I put "RUMOR" in big letters though when I did post.

One last crazy revelation about the Wii before its released..... I wouldn't have it any other way since this IS the most speculated console in the history of videogames.

I just want to know why this was done, someone who is very angry at Nintendo for making the Wii and wanting to get our hopes way up one last time before we find out the truth? This Internet is a crazy world indeed.

"'Triple A' titles like "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princes' and 'Metroid' from Nintendo and 'Red Steel' from Ubisoft will be available on launch together with 19 other titles. This makes a total of _21 games on launch day._"

On News4Gamers.com a journalist team showed a preveiw of an unknown magazine. A scan was provided to News4Gamers by user dragonhero. In the scan there is interveiw with Bethesda Software spokesman Pete Hines. He said that we shouldn't underestimate the power of Wii and that it could Oblivion. Here is the link to the Game4News.com article:

http://news4gamers.com/wii/NewsCom-7543.aspx#Comments

Here is a link to the scan:

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/8403/magazinevf0.jpg

All I ask is that you contact Bethesda and see if the interveiw is real. I would do it myself but their email link does not work for some reason. Usually fake interveiw can get someone in serious trouble so I assume Bethesda will respond.

@ pgtl_10The link you posted was a nice read, but I think the scan is bogus just like the speech, and I come to this conclusion for the same reason the speech is considered fake: sloppy EnglishIn fact, its way more sloppy than the speech, and is full of all types of errors, grammatical, spelling, you name it, they even capitalize words almost randomly.Now in the speech draft we might even accept the mispellings and what not, but this is a magazine, already printed, sure it's supposed to be a preview and things are double-checked, but those are way too many errors to have in a preview print.Also the page looks to unprofesional, it looks like something one could easilly do with a standard editor on a PC, it looks like a fanzine page more than a magazine page.Just throwing in my two cents, we'll eventually find out some neat details in a couple of weeks anyway and find if this is true or false.

On the side,I'm dying for the Wii to come out, but I must admit, I'll miss all the hype and discussion in blogs and forums, does anyone share that feeling as well?

Just to finish off, Fal, I'd like to thank you for all the info, comments, and other stuff you've been giving us for quite a while, and I just want you to know, you've been in my top list for news and rumors about Wii, right up there with Ign. Not that I'm abbandonning the blog, it's just that I don't post too often (although I visit almos daily) and with the Wii coming closer each day I think it's good time to thank youGreetings from Monterrey, Mexico

This whole idea, re-releasing GameCube titles for the Wii , if not one of the cheapest ideas ever concieved for milking cash then it at least is a very bad way to create a greater library of games for the Wii.

I have no idea what titles Miyamoto and Nintendo have in mind of re-releasing but, how can games that didn't manage to do much for the GameCube in the end help the Wii? Also, where is all this mumbo-mumbo about making new games and expanding the market with gameplay being the basis for these new games, when Nintendo is releasing old games with 'updated control'? And how is a move like this supposed to be interpreted when is it being made by the company who has been spending the past two years accusing it's competition of having flooded the market with sequels and games with the same old gameplay (and they forget about their own Mario-blahblahblah #3567867 tiles).

All I have to say about this 'move' (if Nintendo goes through with it) is that it is a far worse move than their competition's moves, it justifies even less the investment in a game console that has less potential of building interesting gaming worlds than yesteryears' PC and also having to build up on the essential 3rd party support, because let us not kid ourselvs, Red Steel and all the other rumored titles from small time developers do not build the confidence rival consoles have with titles like the Pro series, Resident Evil and other games like that.

Nintendo is skating on less than thin ice. They seem to be exploiting the Wii's alleged potential with the worst way possible, Mario games will not cut it anymore, much less these re-releases. For a company that is supposed to understand gamers like myself who have become bored of playing the same type of games after having a 23 year 'career' in gaming, they are the ones who seem to be doing less and less to offer something really new in the end.

The graphics are hilarious!The polygon count is so low!the lightning is subtle!The textures are so bland!Look at the sonic textures and aechitecture!Almost no round objects beside sonic.only simple blocks.Cheap graphics.The metroid screenshot!Ouch!Who is responsible for screenshots at Nintendo?What a fancy retard one must be to release such an ugly red blinkin Metroid screenshot!I cant witness any bumping or the likes!the games suck big time!Hello nintendo you suck!this is absolute screenshot suicide,2 months before launch!disgusting screens!every wii game looks bullshit on screens!

I whole heartly congratulate Nintendo for having the most aimless,incompetent,half-assed pr employees in the m..f... industry!R.e.s.p.e.c.t!!!Thats how you put your games in perspective!How in the world can one release such a fucked up screenshot of Metroid where the damn foe blinks red and takes the whole screen???Someone at Nintendo must be up to the pole!Put that in your pipe and smoke it!Its inapprehensible!If I was a Retro staffer I would beat the hell out of the person that is responsible for this mess of a screenshot!Its a sad debacle, a desaster!I feel sorry for all the people who fall back on the internet to get a sneak peak at Wii just to get a bonk on the nose in the form of utmost obnoxiousness(Sonic,Metroid,Call of Duty,Tony Hawk,Red Steel,Mario,BW2 etc.).That is a darned cheek, if you will pardon the expression.None but fools!

Falafelkid said: "Now, this is an understatement if ever there was one. Seriously, look at those errors."

I don't think it is an understatement. Confusing "then" with "than" is an exceedingly common mistake. Besides, he wouldn't have had to necessarily even make a mistake. What if, due to a typo, T-H-N was what was actually punched in, and the first selection was blindly chosen from the spell check menu. Besides, I've seen many many people with post-secondary degrees in English who don't write as well as the author of that 'speech.' (Not to say the document is well-written, just that there is a myriad of bad writers out there.)

And just for the record, what exactly is wrong with "DS is outselling PSP with big numbers"? It makes grammatical sense; it's a little ungainly (if I were writing it, I'd probably say, "DS is putting up big numbers across the board, outselling the competition at a such-n-such ratio."), but it certainly isn't wrong.

And the first sentence you picked out? Sure, "from" would have been a more correct choice than "than," or he could have left out the "what" altogether, but is it really "ouch"-worthy? The sentence makes perfect sense, and it certainly isn't painful to the eyes or ears.

Really, none of the issues you cited in your article are glaring errors. Were this thing legit (which, of course, it isn't), there would be plenty of time to revise and rewrite the offending sentences. And remember, this is supposedly a draft that ended up in the trash can. If it were perfect, it wouldn't have gotten pitched.

To reiterate, it's obvious this is bogus. I just think the grammar critique was the wrong way to justify that conclusion -- better to look at the content of the 'speech.'

I totally agree with the anonymous above.As he correctly pointed out it was a mildly ackward and fuddy-duddy attempt at calling him/her up by nitpicking on some rather marginal grammatic innconsitencies.

Anyway,I assume it was just that the "german-perfectionist-teacher-alert-mechanism",that suddenly erupted his brain and took control soon as "e" occured instead of "a"..but..you know,whatever..I guess he can't help it.

oh yeah... this "speech" is totally true, since reggie would make the mistakes on propose, just to throw them in his "confidental waste bin", and someone saw it and took them out of it, so it lands on the internet. even hollywood would never put such a stupid scene in any movie...

*begs that 14th of september arrives fast, so those DAMN rumors will finally STOP!*

I am sorry to have to insist, but the mistakes in the alleged speech are horrendous, both syntactically and grammatically. He is mixing up prepositions to an extent that I suspect we are not dealing with a native English speaker here (or, indeed, someone very young).

Just so you know, here´s what it should read.

WRONG

"What I hope to do today is to give you a very different type of presentation than what you´re used to."

CORRECT

Wrong preposition. It should be a different type of presentation to the ones you´re used to. The use of the word ´what´ here is also very colloquial.

WRONG

"One through the perspective of both the consumer and the developer."

CORRECT

Again, wrong preposition. It´s from the perspective.

WRONG

"For many years our industry has been going down."

CORRECT

Going down is transitive, i.e. it requires an accusative object. Going down where? Also, this formulation is again far too colloquial.

WRONG

"DS is outselling PSP with big numbers."

CORRECT

Again, prepositional mistake. If anything, the DS is outselling PSP by something. But not big numbers (again, a colloquialism). A big margin, perhaps.

WRONG

"... which is in development for more then two years now."

CORRECT

No need to explain this one again, eh? And this is still the biggest one of them all. I hate to get elitist here, but if you think that a graduate of Cornell University who has been a top marketing executive for VH1, Guinness and Pizza Hut and won numerous awards would confuse these words, you unfortunately need to brush up grammar and syntax yourself. No offense, but to argue that the above are not grave mistakes is ludicrous.

I just contacted Bethesda about your story and expect to get an answer shortly. My first guess is that the story is fake, since the layout looks very amateurish to me. But we will see. Thanks for the heads-up.

oh come on now, anonymous. the english in that fuckin' "speech" is horrible. to deny that is ridiculous.

falafelkid didn't even point out the harshest ones... he made a few great examples, but please, allow me to continue:

"[...] Geist Story's from Retro Studio's [...]"

apalling. of course, this should read:

"[...] Geist Stories from Retro Studios [...]"

apostrophes are SO FUCKING EASY. you can't possibly believe that such a well-educated man (or anyone whom he's hired to write his speeches) could make such a childish mistake here; twice in a row! this is very very simple pluralization, and to make this mistake is, as a few have said before, simply the product of an ESL (english as a second language) or a child.

"[...] I'd like to introduce some of our good friends of Activision which are with us today [...]"

again with the prepositions? these are still fairly simple mistakes- ones that a college graduate would never make. this sentence is just... all screwed up. i can't even fix this one.

"In February next year [...]"

should read:

"In February of next year [...]"

and

"I can assure you no other console has ever launched with as many games as Nintendo Wii will launch with."

horrid. aside from the obvious, pointed out by tetsuo otomo (nintendo reps never refer to "Wii" as "Nintendo Wii"), the completely pointless dangling participle in this sentence is yet another dead giveaway. again, this sentence is so terrible it can't be fixed, only overhauled:

"I assure you, Wii will have a stronger list of launch titles than any other console in history."

Have you seen updated demos at GC and were you able to gather some information regarding the technical capabilitis of Wii?

Devs. seem to maintain a low profile on the matter and I'm not sure whether its due to the volition of Nintendo or somethingelse.Furthermore,since you were able to expirience Wii first hand-how does it feel?Is it that different?I have been following your blog for a long time but I never came across real impressions of the games that you tried.I even saw you once on television,sometime around E3 standing in front of a big plasma with the Wii-mote in your hand.I think it was a sneak-peak at Red Steel if I recall correctly.Anyway,keep up the good work.

Have you seen updated demos at GC and were you able to gather some information regarding the technical capabilitis of Wii?

No, unfortunately. If I knew something about the specs myself, I would post it here.

I have been following your blog for a long time but I never came across real impressions of the games that you tried.

Well, my first hands-on impression was the exclusive Red Steel press tour in early April. My impressions are right here and they are all still pretty valid. Since then, I have played Wii: Tennis, MP3 and Super Monkey Ball... guess that´s it already. But it´s still just as exciting as it was in April.

You don't have to apologize for insisting as long as you don't mind if I also insist. I am a native English speaker and I can verify that you see mistakes like these all the time in both written and spoken language, and they really are not that bad.

You wrote:

WRONG

"What I hope to do today is to give you a very different type of presentation than what you´re used to."

CORRECT

Wrong preposition. It should be a different type of presentation to the ones you´re used to. The use of the word ´what´ here is also very colloquial.

Actually, you're mixing up your own prepositions here. Something cannot be "different to" something else. "Different from" is correct if a noun or pronoun follows (like "what"). "Different from what you're used to" is perfect English.

WRONG

"One through the perspective of both the consumer and the developer."

CORRECT

Again, wrong preposition. It´s from the perspective.

No big deal. People slip up like this all the time, especially since such similar idioms as "through the eyes of..." exist.

WRONG

"For many years our industry has been going down."

CORRECT

Going down is transitive, i.e. it requires an accusative object. Going down where? Also, this formulation is again far too colloquial.

"Going" as a verb is usually intransitive. It doesn't take an object, but it is often clarified with a prepositional phrase, which is what you're talking about anyway. "Down" is a prepositional phrase, and the sentence makes perfect sense as is. Just because you would rather him say where it's going doesn't mean it's incorrect not to. "Going down" in this sense is a euphamism for "decreasing" and it's perfectly intelligible.

WRONG

"DS is outselling PSP with big numbers."

CORRECT

Again, prepositional mistake. If anything, the DS is outselling PSP by something. But not big numbers (again, a colloquialism). A big margin, perhaps.

"Putting up big numbers" is a very common phrase, and is likely what the author had in mind. The original phrasing is awkward, but yours isn't much better. In my previous post I said how I would phrase that sentiment.

WRONG

"... which is in development for more then two years now."

CORRECT

No need to explain this one again, eh? And this is still the biggest one of them all. I hate to get elitist here, but if you think that a graduate of Cornell University who has been a top marketing executive for VH1, Guinness and Pizza Hut and won numerous awards would confuse these words, you unfortunately need to brush up grammar and syntax yourself. No offense, but to argue that the above are not grave mistakes is ludicrous.

Okay, the last one's pretty bad -- wrong tense and everything, but I've seen higher educated people make worse mistakes than even that. Why don't you read my posts again before you tell me I need to brush up on grammar. Once again, these are mistakes anyone could (and does) make, especially in a first draft of something to be read aloud (i.e. not published in print) and ultimately discarded. The document is bogus, but the grammar isn't why.

Tactics, if you can't fix that sentence, I'm certainly not going to take your word on how bad it is. For the record, it should read, "I'd like to introduce some good friends from Activision who are with us today." Easy, huh? And I can assure you college graduates do write like that or worse -- lots of them.

No, you´re wrong on this one, I am afraid. ´Different to´ is just as correct. It´s mainly used in British English, however. Maybe you didn´t know that. Check some links on the topic here and here. I write British English on this blog, as I am sure you noticed.

"Putting up big numbers" is a very common phrase, and is likely what the author had in mind.

I don´t care what the author had in mind.

The original phrasing is awkward, but yours isn't much better.

That´s preposterous, I am afraid to say. His sentence was:

DS is outselling PSP with big numbers.

Mine was:

DS is outselling PSP by a big margin.

And you are trying to tell me that mine isn´t much better? Come on!

"Going down" in this sense is a euphamism for "decreasing" and it's perfectly intelligible.

Sorry to be nitpicking, but your use of the word ´euphemism´ (check spelling, please) is off. A euphemism is a word or phrase that sounds nicer than the harsh reality it nevertheless describes. For example, ´You have been freed from your contract´ is a euphemism for ´You have been fired´.

I don´t see how ´going down´ could be a euphemism for ´decreasing´. In fact, the very opposite is the case, since what is being implied here is something like ´going down the tubes´ or ´going down the drain´ which makes the matter in hand sound much harsher. You were probably thinking of the term synonym or colloquialism.

That aside, let´s just remind ourselves of the fact that you are trying to defend the sentence ´Our industry has been going down´. And you claim that is a sentence someone with the education and professional experience of Mr. Fils-Aime would write in a speech, albeit a draft version? Good luck.

that's fine and dandy. you've done a great job. i just don't understand what your point is, really... you honestly feel that Mr. Fils-Aime is capable of such a monstrosity as "Geist Story's from Retro Studio's"???

seriously, dude.

btw, thanks for fixing the Activision sentence. my solution for that sentence was exactly the same as yours, but i wasn't sure about "who" and "whom", (and i'm still not totally sure...) and i didn't want to get blasted for it. :)